By this time of the year, highschool seniors committing to an institution of higher education is very common. This means moving onto the next exciting step of deciding your living situation for the next school semester.  

A stateuniversity.com article says that 60 percent of college freshmen live in traditional style dorms. The infamous cramped room housing two people and not even a bathroom is the common vision of a college dorm. However, to attract more students, many universities have created the option of suite styling housing. This is closer to an apartment set-up, including a shared bathroom between four to eight people and a mini-kitchen, in some cases.  

Sharing a small space with someone for an extended amount of time in any sense can be worrisome, but sharing your first home away from home is terrifying so it is important that you find someone that you would get along well with. The option of  a random roommate exists, but only the most brave incoming freshmen take that risk. Leaving the fate of your home for the next few months in the hands of  a computer algorithm is very risky. 

Once you have committed to a school, there will likely be a Facebook group of other incoming freshmen that you can be added to by your admissions counselor. This is where you can post a short biography and pictures about yourself, including what you participated in in high school, if you plan to continue it in college and other things that describe the basics of you as an individual. It is also helpful to include some kind of contact information such as Snapchat, Instagram or even a phone number if you are comfortable with that.

If you see someone on this Facebook group that you think you would enjoy spending lots of time and an extremely small space together, do not be scared to reach out! Seriously, if you don’t reach out right away then before you know it will be the end of April and you will be stuck with the random roommate of the school.s choice. Everyone is in the same boat as you and it is very unlikely for someone to be completely rude about you reaching out to see if they have a roommate. If they are, you will know that they would have made a terrible roommate anyways! Good luck roommate hunting!